Amazing Partnerships

During Chinese New Year, my grandma and I read this book together before bedtime. It’s all about wild animals who cooperate with each other to survive. Did you know that these animals and insects partner up in the wild? Zebras and ostriches, cattle egrets (a kind of bird) and hippos, green sea turtles and yellow tang fish, goby fish and pistol shrimp, clownfish and sea anemones, ants and aphids – these are the amazing animal partnerships in the book!

Of course, I found that the most interesting pair to read about were the big wild animals! Zebras and ostriches roam around the savannah together. Ostriches can see very far and they also run fast. You would think they can take care of themselves well. But, they have a poor sense of smell. Which means their nose doesn’t work well.

So they depend on zebras because zebras have a great sense of smell. When zebras sense predators, they will give out a high-pitched alarm call, and ostriches will know how to run away. Likewise if ostriches see predators from far away due to their sharp vision, they will quickly run away. The zebras see them running and of course they run too!

The other pair I found interesting was the green sea turtle and yellow tang fish. The fish would eat the algae on the turtle’s back, helping it to faster. Without the algae, the turtles can also stay healthier. It’s a win-win because the yellow tang fish gets a nice meal, and the turtles stay clean and healthy!

I highly recommend this book to 8-9 year olds because we are studying Animals in Science class during Term 1 of P3 and this is a fun way to learn about animals! It’s also a very easy read because there are not too many words!